The Thoreau You Don't Know [Giveaway]

We're giving away a copy of this book to one commenter below, so make sure to comment with a valid email before midnight on Friday, May 22, 2009.*

In terms of non-architectural books, this is probably the most interesting book I've read in a long time. In The Thoreau You Don't Know: What the Prophet of Environmentalism Really Meant, Robert Sullivan thoroughly and cleverly tells the real story of Henry David Thorough. It's a different story than the one we've all become accustomed to hearing. But it's fascinating and compelling. And if you've ever thought of invoking the name of Thoreau in support of this or that environmental cause, give it a read before doing so.

I know I will from now on, because Thoreau was a lot more complicated than the guy who simply built a small house near Walden Pond using borrowed materials and land. He's a lot more complicated than the guy who paid his debts or went to jail.

Thoreau was a pencil maker and a really good one. He knew the business and innovated to make better pencils. He was smart and deliberate and observant. Of course, we all know he was a writer and some of his work was better than others. But I didn't realize the extent of his relationship with Ralph Waldo Emerson. Did you? Did you know about his comings and goings in Concord or within the community? I didn't.

It's hard not to enjoy the portrait that Sullivan paints. And to be honest, I hope Sullivan's representation turns out to be more than just today's piece of the Thoreau Historiography — a modern day projection of our idiosyncrasies on the real David Henry Thoreau. The book certainly reads and feels comprehensive. In fact, the The Thoreau You Don't Know has to be the closest thing we have to an objective look at the man. As far as I can tell …

*If you're interested in the book, drop a comment by midnight MST on Friday, May 22, 2009. Say where you're from if you don't know what to say. By leaving a comment, you agree to the terms and conditions relating to book giveaways on Jetson Green. Shipping only within U.S.

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

Related Posts

25 Comments

My favorite Thoreau – Emerson story is when Emerson visited Thoreau in jail where he had been imprisoned for refusing to pay his poll taxes:

“Mr. Emerson visited Thoreau at the jail, and the meeting between the two philosophers must have been interesting and somewhat dramatic. The account of the meeting was told me by Miss Maria Thoreau [Henry Thoreaus aunt]Henry, why are you here? Waldo, why are you not here?”

“I want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”

This quote from Thoreau’s Walden, though lengthy, is one I have been living by since reading of the transcendentalists in high school. I’ve studied his works countless times since and though I’ve occasionally disagreed with his ideas, I’ve always adored him – like he was a member of my own family (however strange that might be).

Though, after stumbling upon this post of Sullivan’s book, I’m not sure what to think. I do “invoking the name of Thoreau in support of this or that environmental cause,” and so to think that this read might change things is beyond me. I would no sooner want to hear a hurtful word about Bruce Wayne then I would about Thoreau!!

Maybe, I’m just over thinking this whole thing. Best to calm down, right?

Either way, my love for Thoreau has put Sullivan’s book among the top few to read this summer. So once I get my hands on it, I’ll sort things out myself and save you all from the rambling.

Our mention of the book is purposely vague because I think Sullivan describes Thoreau in a way that I’ve not read before. But I haven’t read any other biographies of him either. Give it a read, I don’t think it’ll destroy your image him.